The remarkable
German musician/singer/composer Markus Apitius has just released his fourth
album, GOLDEN PARACHUTE. Apitius may be based in Cologne, but he writes
and sings in English (handling complex thoughts and language with ease).
He also works in a variety of styles, blurring the boundaries between
rock, jazz and pop. He plays numerous instruments as well, though the
electric keyboard is his bedrock. His musical influences are equally eclectic--Bela
Bartok, Buffalo Springfield, Brian Wilson, John Cale, XTC, the Beatles,
Syd Barrett and Van der Graaf Generator.

In his latest CD, Apitius teams up with regular band members Christian
Schaal (bass), Matthias Ebbinghaus (percussion), and numerous guest artists
(including Michael Peters on sitar) to deliver his songs, most of which
have a social bite to them (especially Golden Parachute, a sardonic assault
on the greedy businessmen who have jumped capitalism's leaking ship, leaving
the rest of us to drown like rats).

Another
bitter ballad is Mighty Murdoch, which thanks media king Rupert for all
the "beautiful lies" he's told us, lies which have persuaded
us to "scrap our altars to make room for our LCDs."

The gifted
Apitius can write love songs as well, not to speak of a cerebral (but
compelling), thirteen-minute exploration of a story by the sci-fi writer
Philip K. Dick, Epiphany 74, which concludes with these thoughts: "With
all our safety nets and desperate attempts, there's still the ghost that
leads the madman's hand. Who will step aside and hope to understand?"
Visit www.apitius.de
or www.myspace.com/markusapitius.